Belarus, Russia set up joint task force on genocide

June 23, BPN. Belarusian Prosecutor General Andrej Švied and Russian Investigative Committee Chairman Aleksandr Bastrykin have signed a resolution to establish a joint task force to investigate genocide cases.

“The signing of this resolution is important because we are together in this. I mean investigating and recording facts, including of the previously unknown crimes by fascist invaders in the occupied territories of the Soviet Union,” Švied said in Minsk, as quoted by Belta on June 23.

He added that investigating genocide cases is particularly important: “We should remind the world what Nazism and fascism are. Neo-Nazism and neo-fascism of the 21st century are no different from the ideology the carriers of which were brutally exterminating peaceful population and captured Red Army soldiers, establishing the so-called new order.”

After the suppression of post-election protests in 2020, the authorities in Minsk promoted a theory that the Belarusian people suffered genocide during WWII. On April 9, 2021 Švied announced that his office had opened a genocide case. The prosecutor general also edited a book drawing parallels between the Nazis and participants in the 2020 protests.

On January 5, 2022 Alaksandr Łukašenka signed a law establishing criminal liability for publicly denying the genocide. “The implementation of the Law will contribute to preventing distortion of the Great Patriotic War’s outcomes, as well to uniting the Belarusian society,” his press service said.

Russian and Belarusian propaganda have promoted a false narrative that portrays Ukrainian politicians and soldiers as Nazis.